Newborn Realities for Second Time Parents March 29, 2018 05:00

Brian and I recently welcomed our new nugget, Margaret (Maggie), into our family. She was officially one month earlier this week. The past month has flown by and yet feels like it has taken forever. There have been many highs and lows. I feel like when preparing for our first child we were so intentional and thorough. This was probably because we knew we were adventuring into the unknown. This time with both of us working full-time and having a energetic toddler running around we honestly didn't have nearly as much time or mental capacity to prepare. I think we both secretly hoped it was like riding a bike, that it would all come back once she was born. The truth is that was only halfway true. Brian and I regularly look at each other and exchange the glance that means, "oh yea, I vaguely remember that, but I can't seem to recall the specifics, mental note to ask pediatrician next time we go in." I also personally think that God has somehow engineered our minds to suppress the newborn phase, cause really, who would remember all the details and choose to have another? But then again, those sweet tiny precious little fingers!

I jotted a few of those newborn-isms down that we failed to remember:

• Babies are typically born nocturnal and it takes a few days (in our case weeks) for them to readjust to a regular schedule.
• The most in-depth conversations that you end up having with your spouse seem to all happen at around 4:30am when you are both for some reason really awake. The few moments you don't have a toddler melting down or a baby crying.
• Babies cry. Our first hardly cried. Maggie seems to express all emotions, good and bad, by crying. Definitely an adjustment for us. 
• The "let you baby cry it out" thing is a lot harder to do when you toddler is sleeping soundly.
• Babies have growth spurts where they are hungry all the time. 3 days, 7-10 days, 3 weeks, so on and so forth.
• We completely forgot about acid reflux and gas. Our new addition seems to want to be upright or decently angled all of the time in order to be comfortable. 
• For those that breastfeed, it takes up so much of your day, completely forgot the time commitment. 
• Also for those that breastfeed, you forget about having to live life in 2 hour stretches of time.
• I regularly have to look at my phone to know the day of the week. 
• How long does it take for a baby to sleep through the night? We hit it at 8 weeks with our first, I'll keep you posted regarding round two.
• You're continually washing everything: bottles, poopy clothes, milk covered everything!
• We hadn't fully processed how our son was going to react. There have been very high highs and very low lows on this front. 
• Cabin fever is real!